Hot Topics:

Greenlee: It ain't over yet

By Bob Greenlee

Posted:
09/30/2012 01:00:00 AM MDT

This election season is about as nasty and disagreeable as any we have ever witnessed. That's because elections have consequences

A year ago Boulder voters narrowly approved considering whether or not it made sense to severe its long-term relationship with Xcel Energy and establish its own municipal electric utility. The purported necessity was to further the city's ambitious and perhaps unachievable environmental goals. Others wanted to break the shackles of an investor owned corporate utility giant along with a burdensome statewide utility regulatory process. Whatever the reason, last November voters saddled themselves with collecting and spending up to $12 million to pursue a municipalization effort whose outcome is still in doubt.

At a recent City Council study session a 55-page staff memo reported on where things stand and a number of troubling issues were revealed and left unresolved. For example, the memo indicated that around $1.9 million will be collected from the "occupation tax" voters approved but this year over $2.2 million will actually be spent. What supporters of the municipalization takeover never fully revealed, or made voters fully aware of, is that over a dozen current city staff members continue participating in the muni effort and their time is being paid with over $300,000 in general fund tax dollars. Although it's unclear how much time various staff members are devoting to the task it's no secret that thousands of hours have already been and will continue to be spent on supporting the municipalization effort.

Advertisement

Some members of council have questioned the propriety of not reimbursing the general fund for current and future staff time and the issue remains unresolved and is certainly an issue for further consideration.

Although City Manager Jane Brautigam recently reported the city is in a "very sound financial position" sales tax receipts for 2012 are flat and projections for next year assumes a modest 3 percent revenue growth. This November voters are being asked to renew two expiring dedicated taxes; one for parks and recreation and another to extend the Carbon Action Plan. No general fund tax increase is contemplated although these tax revenues pay for police, fire, libraries and other critical city services.

That study session also revealed another potential obstacle in achieving the muni endgame and it hasn't received the public attention it deserves. The issue involves the possibility of needing to annex a few neighborhoods in and around the city that currently share Xcel Energy's electrical system but are not in the city limits. The matter arose when city staff assigned to work on various components of the muni-plan made an inventory of Xcel's assets. The work is necessary to help determine the value of various properties that need to be accounted for in any future condemnation proceedings the city might initiate. Among all the existing neighborhoods impacted the largest and most problematic is that portion of Gunbarrel that the city has never annexed and likely never will.

Gunbarrel, or as some have referred to it as 6.4 square miles of reality surrounded by Boulder, raises interesting issues. In 1977 the city annexed the business and commercial areas so it could glom on to a wealth of taxes being generated there. It left most of the current 9,500 residents alone not making them citizens of the city. Many local pundits believe there's a very good reason why the city's left-leaning political class doesn't want a large number of Gunbarrel residents infecting the current "progressive" voting pool. Residents out there might be dreaded Republicans or at least might be more conservative voters when it comes to all the social engineering efforts and questionable special taxes Boulder politicians and voters can't seem to live without.

It's very likely that if Gunbarrel residents had been allowed to vote on the municipalization scheme the issue would have easily gone down to defeat.

New coordinator pushes Buffs to work, play at level he expectsJim Leavitt has discovered this much about his new defense at Colorado: He has some talent with which to work, but his players need to put it in another gear. Full Story